Wednesday, October 25, 2000
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Wednesday, October 25, 2000 |
| Jury clears doctor,
hospital of wrongdoing in patient's death
By JOHN
MUNFORD
A 12-member jury has found a local doctor and the Hospital Authority of Meriwether County not guilty of malpractice regarding the postsurgical death of a patient back in 1993. Cindy Michelle Terry had alleged that her mother, Maxine Brown, died at Meriwether Regional Hospital while recovering from a hysterectomy because Dr. Robert W. Bowen failed to give proper post-operation orders to help Brown recover. During closing arguments, Terry's attorneys argued that Bowen should have prescribed leg exercises and other measures that could have saved Brown's life. Brown died the morning after the surgery, Sept. 24, 1993, while she was still in the hospital recovering from the surgery. The verdict came Tuesday afternoon, concluding a trial that lasted over a week before Superior Court Judge Paschal A. English. The original complaint, filed in 1997, alleged that the care Brown received from Bowen and the hospital was negligent. Bowen took the stand during the trial to defend his actions. After the verdict was read, Terry cried uncontrollably while English prepared to dismiss the jury. English indicated that he was satisfied with the jury's verdict and he thanked the jurors for their service.
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